Mike Zolo
by Mike Zolo
Summary: Deep within the Village Hidden in the Flames lurks The Flaming Shinobi, better known as, Mike Zolo! Read his epic adventure from the very beginning, here! Remade and remastered, just for you! Chapter 3: The Flaming Outcome, has been released!
1. Genin Exam

**Mike Zolo**

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**Prologue**

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Thirteen years ago, the Village Hidden in the Leave's population grew too large. The Hokage had no choice but to have a second village built within the Land of Fire: the Village Hidden in the Flames. Hearing word of this, being in a time of distress, the Village Hidden in the Mist attacked the newly formed village just a few weeks after it's construction. Having several clans and families already moved in, there were many deaths, and just as many survivors. An attack such as this couldn't go down in history without a name, so to this very day, the invasion is remembered as The Attack of the Mist. During The Attack of the Mist, an entire clan was wiped out clean. Only two members of that clan survived: two freshly newborn brothers. Both abandoned, one was located by an Anbu from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and was brought to safety. The other grew up alone in the Village Hidden in the Flames after they signed a peace treaty with the Village Hidden in the Mist, and today, this boy is known as The Flaming Shinobi, Mike Zolo.

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**Chapter 1: Genin Exam**

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Today is Genin Exam day at the Hidden Flame Academy. Students finally get a chance to become Genin, true ninja in training. The halls remain empty and quiet. Throughout all of the rooms, tests are being taken as the first part of the exam. In room 243, however, it's different. The student's have already completed their tests, in fact, they're almost done with the final part of the exam.

Sitting silently in his seat, waiting for his turn to go up, was Mike Zolo. He was leaning back in his chair, resting his feet on his desk, watching a student in the front of the class perform the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Mike had red ninja sandals on, long brown pants with black flames rising from the bottom, and a bandage wrapped around his right leg. Over that was a long-sleeve red shirt with black flames coming up from not only the bottom of the shirt, but the sleeves also. At the top of the shirt, there was a large collar similar to the top of Sasuke's shirt. Mike had red spiky hair, light red eyes, brown eyebrows, and was really anxious to put on a red headband that some of the students were already wearing.

As Mike waited, the person in the front of the class stepped down to go to their seat. The student was a girl, who had violet ninja sandals on, short gray shorts, and a bandage wrapped around her right leg. Covering most of the shorts, though, was a dress similar to Sakura's. The only thing different was how it was light purple, there was no symbol on the back of it, and it still had the short-sleeves. The girl was skinny, with long violet hair, and light purple eyes. With a smile on her face, she sat down at her desk, wrapping a headband the same color as her dress around her head like the way Sakura wears hers. Speechless, Mike put his feet down as he thought to himself, _"Whoa, she's hot!"_

Concluding her exam, the teacher in the front of the class spoke, "Nice job, Zola." With that, he checked off a piece of paper he was holding with his pencil, and called out to the class, "Next up, Mike Zolo!"

Still caught in Zola's beauty, Mike quickly got a hold of himself and looked at the teacher. "Wait, what?!" He panicked, not hearing what name was announced.

"You're up, loser." Another student said. He sat behind Mike, glaring at him with his dark blue eyes. He had dark blue ninja sandals on, long brown pants with a bandage wrapped around his left leg, a sleeveless black shirt that was zipped up from bottom to top, and he had five large dark blue spikes for hair: two hanging on both sides of his head, and one hovering over his face, covering up his left eye. He also didn't have a headband on, more specifically, because he and Mike were the only students that didn't become Genin yet. "Hurry up and go!" He continued.

"Oh, right, thanks Ricky!" Mike foolishly thanked the boy as he scrambled away from his desk and rushed up to the front of the class. Once there, he turned and faced all of the students, then looked up at the teacher who stood beside him. The teacher looked back at him and nodded his head. Taking that as the signal to go, Mike shifted his body around and stood in front of a large open area in the room. It was empty, and the middle of the floor was black and burnt. Mike performed a few certain hand signs, then started building up the chakra in his body. Unlocking a particular jutsu, Mike made a small tunnel with his fingers around his mouth, to give the jutsu it's direction and shape, and unleashed an extremely large ball of fire. Mike had successfully completed the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Almost all of the students were amazed and began clapping excitedly. All, except for Ricky, who gave Mike his usual glare. In a few seconds, the jutsu ended, and the ball of fire withered away. The burnt part of the floor was now even darker, and could probably be easily broken. The class eventually stopped clapping, and the teacher waited for Mike to leave the small platform before checking off his name.

Watching him come back down, Zola told him, "Great job and all, Mike... But you forgot your headband! I'm surprised the teacher didn't give it to you while you were still up there."

Worried for a moment, the thought came to Mike that he might not have passed. Although, he didn't really think that much longer, and chuckled a bit as he said to her, "Don't worry 'bout it! I'm sure he just forgot."

Unamused, Zola muttered, "Or maybe you got carried away before he could give it to you..."

Before Mike even sat down, the teacher complimented shortly on his performance, then called up the obvious last student, "Ricky Momochi, your turn."

Already prepared to go, Ricky stood up and moved away from his seat. He put his hands in his pockets, and started walking up to the front of the class. At one point, he went by Mike, and had a very brief chat.

"Good luck!" Mike wished him.

"Won't need it..." Brushing it off, Ricky went on to attempt to use the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu as Mike took his seat. Ricky faced the large open area, showed off the same hand signs as Mike, and summoned up his chakra. "Hope this actually works!" He thought, tunneling his fingers around his mouth. Just like with Mike, it gave his jutsu direction and shape, however, only a small flare of fire was released. Getting the worse score in the final part of the exam, there was no doubt about it: Ricky failed. The whole class laughed at him, excluding Mike, who stood up and said, "Hey, c'mon guys, stop laughing!"

Stopping, Ricky looked down and tightened his fists, only letting the class see his back. Everyone's laughter raced through his head. The fact that Mike, the Hidden Flame Academy's worse student, having out shined him, one of the most intelligent students there, was just too embarrassing for him to handle. Not to mention this ruined his chances of becoming a Genin. "..."

Noticing his unfortunate turn out, since the class refrained from listening to him, Mike ran up to Ricky and slowed down just a bit once he reached him. While the teacher tried calming down the class, Mike reached out to put his hand on Ricky's shoulder, but outraged, Ricky slapped his hand away.

"Hey, what was that for?" Mike complained, keeping his hand back, now. "I was only trying to help!"

Still not turning around, Ricky spoke quietly, "The last thing I need right now is your help..."

"What are you trying to say?" Mike questioned him, too dumb to realize how he felt.

"I'm saying, go away! I don't need sympathy from you, of all people!" Ricky growled, jerking his body around to face Mike, even more outraged. The entire class grew silent, as the teacher stopped to stare at Mike and Ricky, just like everyone else.

"Ricky, calm down!" Mike told him, taking one step back.

"Shut up!" Ricky demanded.

"This needs to stop!" The teacher said, finally taking action. He got ready to go over to the two of them, but was stopped. Holding his arm out, Mike dared to make the teacher wait.

"Just hold on..." The boy said, softly. He glared back at Ricky, returning his often glare at him, and said, "I'm not sure if I'm adding all of this up right, but it seems to me that... you're jealous."

Finally broken, Ricky left the state of anger, to chuckle. "_Me_?" He asked. "Jealous of _you_? You could never live up to my standards! There's a highly reasonable explanation why I was upstaged by a weakling like you!"

"Did you ever think that the reason was that I'm just better than you at the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu? Or maybe I'm just stronger? Or better?"

"Be quiet! There's no way any of that is true!" Ricky came back at him. "I'm usually never one to brag like this, get over tempered, or even reach this point in my personality, but regardless, you've went too far for me to just let this go! You pathetic excuse for a ninja!"

"I think you're saying that you can't handle being finally shown up! Heh, least expected by me, huh? Why not have a challenge to see who's truly better, then? You may not consider me to be a smart one, but I think that would be the most logical way to settle this whole thing out!" Mike suggested.

"Big words for someone like you. I can't even imagine turning down that offer. You're on!" Ricky said as they both smirked.

"Good, then. Why not take this elsewhere? Preferably, outside?" Mike threw out another idea.

Taking it, Ricky raised his chin as he told him, "Fine by me. Let's go." With that, the two rivals walked right out of room 243, leaving the teacher and the rest of the class behind.

_"This might not go so well..."_ The teacher thought in his mind.

"I can't wait to see this..." Zola spoke under her breathe.


	2. Mike versus Ricky

**Mike Zolo**

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**Chapter 2: Mike versus Ricky**

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Walking down the Hidden Flame Academy's main hallway, Ricky tightened his fists as he grew more anxious to fight Mike. Meanwhile, Mike, who was walking only a few feet behind him, was also getting pumped to fight Ricky, but deep inside, he was a little scared. Since all of the students were still in their rooms taking the exams, Mike and Ricky appeared to be the only ones around, in which case, only the tapping of their feet against the floor could be heard. In his mind, Mike thought, _"I sure hope we didn't get ourselves into a mess of trouble..."_

"Those two just got themselves into a mess of trouble!" The teacher said to himself, watching the both of them leave his sight. Mike and Ricky turned at a corner, and the teacher walked back into room 243, closing the door behind him. He calmly walked over to the window, just like the rest of the students, and came to see the two rivals enter a large, grassy, empty field. "The right thing to do would be stopping them. However, this probably will end up being the perfect example of a ninja battle. So, pay attention, class." The teacher spoke out to everyone.

Outside, Ricky walked far off into the field, while Mike stayed within the range of the Hidden Flame Academy's doors. After a while, Ricky noticed Mike wasn't following him, so he halted and turned around to face him. "What's the matter, Mike? Scared already?" He taunted him.

Not believing what he said, Mike yelled at him, "Of course not! There's... just no reason to go out that far! I only said outside! And now we're outside!"

Knowing he was obviously lieing, Ricky laughed and replied with, "Okay, then. Fine by me. Let's just get this thing goin'."

Taking that as a meaning to begin, Mike took one step forward in preparation to attack, but was stopped. The teacher had opened up the window and shouted out to them, "I think you'll be needing these!"

"Needing what?" Mike asked, slightly angered that the teacher made him refrain from making his move. He then saw the teacher toss both of them their very own pouches of ninja gear. Mike and Ricky both caught theirs, and put them on. "Oh, thanks!" Mike thanked him, grinning. With that, the teacher left the window open to watch more clearly, and Mike got into a fighting position. The wind picked up, blowing leaves around everywhere. Mike and Ricky's hair blew with the breeze, as they both waited for the other to make the first move. Or so it seemed...

Finally annoyed by the waiting, once a reasonable amount of time passed by, Ricky raised his arm and let his wrist drop as he asked, "Weren't you going to attack me before the teacher stopped you? What's the matter, now? Are you actually thinking this through for once?"

"Maybe." Mike said, smiling. Ricky then felt a presence behind him. He quickly shifted his body around to see Mike behind him. The Mike that he saw, said, "I just needed to stall you long enough for my clone to get behind you! If you count that as "thinking this through", then _yes_, yes I am!"

"Heh, what kind of cheap trick is that?" Ricky asked, spinning once and roundhouse kicking Mike's clone in the head. The clone exploded in a small eruption of smoke, leaving Ricky wide open to an attack from behind.

Rushing up from in back of Ricky, the real Mike told him, "Perfect! I used the Clone Jutsu when you couldn't see, which was while you were attaching that pouch on! Then, I waited for it to get behind you and get you to turn around as a distraction!" Eventually getting caught up to Ricky, Mike pulled his arm back and made a fist. He thrusted his arm forward and continued, "So that I could really attack you where you can't stop me: from _behind_!"

"Hmph..." As a smile broke at the corner of Ricky's mouth, the boy sidestepped to the right so that Mike's punch completely missed him, just in time. "Smart move... for a student like you." Ricky then kneed Mike in the stomach while he was off guard. He went on with a combo by swinging his right arm around into Mike's face. The blow threw him a few feet back, skidding across the field. "Still, though." Ricky said. "You're not technically counted as a Genin, yet. Therefor, you're not ready to pull off a real surprise during battle."

"You mean, like this?" A voice said, coming from above Ricky. Shocked, Ricky's eyes opened up wide at the view of the Mike in front of him, poof into a slightly cracked log. Up in the air, the real Mike descended upon Ricky, holding a kunai in his hand. "A basic Substitution Jutsu." Mike said, landing on Ricky and making him fall to the ground. "I used it as soon as I noticed I missed. Otherwise, that pounding to the face would have really hurt!"

"And what do you s'pose you're going to do now?" Ricky asked with the left side of his head against the ground. He seemed to still be calm and cool, not worried about how Mike was on top of him with a dangerous weapon.

Grinning for a moment, Mike moved the kunai over to Ricky's neck as he said, "I'm going to force you to give up so that I win!"

"Nice plan." Ricky complimented him. "If it actually would have _worked_." Speaking those words, Ricky got his right hand and grabbed onto Mike's hand that was holding the kunai. He pulled it away, and used his left hand to grip onto Mike's leg and push him, making him fall over. As soon as he got his chance, Ricky rolled over and bounced back up on his feet. While Mike was still on the ground, Ricky showed off a single hand sign, saying, "This should trick him..."

Getting up slowly, Mike lifted himself up by pushing off of his knee, then, he closed his eyes and rubbed his head. "When did you learn that? Did you take wrestling or something?" He wondered, before opening his eyes at the sight of the teacher. "Whoa, where'd Ricky go?!" Mike asked.

"He got tired of how weak you were and decided to come back to class." The teacher said in an immature fashion.

"Huh?" Confused, Mike dropped his guard as the teacher threw a punch at him. Mike went crashing into the Hidden Flame Academy's wall, coughing up a small amount of blood at impact. "Ugh... what in the world is going on, here?!"

The teacher then let off a small outburst of smoke as Ricky stood there, smiling. "The simple Transformation Jutsu. Only an idiot like you could fall for that."

"Is that so?" Mike asked, trying to stand back up. Without taking his attention off of Ricky, he put his hand behind him and searched his pouch for something. "Got it!" He stated, pulling out a small tape full of string. He held onto the tape as he rushed back at Ricky and started running large circles around him. Eventually, his speed picked up and Ricky had to keep track of where he was.

"What are you doing, now?" Ricky asked, soon falling into Mike's confusion. It was so hard to keep up, Ricky became dizzy and had to constantly keep turning.

"Now!" Mike announced. He made a quick stop and started running the other way. Noticing his change in direction, Ricky forced himself to keep his eyes on Mike, but his body kept turning. Realizing he could be attacked now, Mike ran right up to Ricky and pulled out some string from the tape. He ran around Ricky, wrapping him up in string, before he was completely tied up. Mike bit the string, cutting it apart from the tape, and made a knot. Then, he put the tape back in his pouch as he stopped running. "You're so easy to fool, Ricky." Mike mocked him.

"I think Mike won!" Zola stated from within room 243. She was certainly surprised, just like the rest of the class, for Mike actually winning in a fight against Ricky appeared to be almost impossible.

Mike turned around and walked away from Ricky. He clapped his hands together, as if beating Ricky was hard work, until he heard something behind him. _"Now what is it?"_ He wondered, turning back to see Ricky standing up, fine, and the string scattered all over the ground. "How is that even possible?!"

"Escape Jutsu. They only taught it for a little while, but I memorized it. Now then. Shall we continue?"

"Enough of this. This repetitive back and forth is annoying! I'm finishing this!" Determined to win, Mike performed the same hand signs from the exam. He charged up the rest of his chakra to his fullest extent, then bent back to get ready for his best Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu yet.

Astonished, Ricky had no choice but to do that as well. There was no time to get away and try to dodge it. There were no objects around to block. He had to counter it with his own jutsu. So, Ricky attempted in doing the same hand signs as Mike, before gathering up all of his chakra as well. Completely ready, he also bent back, ready to unleash all of his fury.

"Can it be?!" The teacher questioned himself. All of the student's jaws dropped after watching both Mike, _and_ Ricky, release an extremely large ball of fire at each other.


	3. The Flaming Outcome

**Mike Zolo**

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**Chapter 3: The Flaming Outcome**

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Amazed at the sight of Ricky being able to use the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, Zola pushed through the crowd of students at the window so she could get a closer view of the battle. As everyone watched the scorching flames of both of their jutsu clash, Zola stopped to think for a moment. She put her finger on her chin and tilted her head, thinking, _"Wait a minute..."_ With that, her question sprung up as she looked up at the teacher, who was standing right beside her. "Won't their jutsu both start a _real_ uncontrollable fire? Since they _are_ surrounded by a bunch of grass?"

"Hmmm, yes, you're right." The teacher said. "Nice observation, Zola. Yes, it will. Don't worry, though. We'll be able to put it out."

"_We_?" Zola thought out loud for a moment. The teacher simply ignored her, so she just went on with watching the fight.

Mike and Ricky constantly held their jutsu up. Each ball of fire slowly grew bigger, due to all of the chakra being poured into them, and it caused more loose flames and sparks to scatter across the field. Since they were still young, and not even Genin yet, it wouldn't be much longer until they both completely ran out of chakra. If that kept up, they would have to stop, or suffer from the results, later. _"I can't keep this up much longer!"_ Mike panicked in his mind, barely keeping his jutsu steady. He tried seeing through the flames to look at Ricky, who still seemed calm and collected. _"How much chakra does Ricky have?! There's no way I can beat him at this rate!"_

_"I think he's finally backing out!"_ Ricky thought, noticing Mike's decrease in chakra and power through his jutsu. Using this to his advantage, Ricky let out one final outburst of energy, breaking past Mike's ball of fire and soaring straight for him. Ricky let go of his fire ball and watched it aim right for Mike. "Yes, I got him!" He yelled, waiting for it to hit.

Just before Ricky's Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu met with Mike, the teacher instantly appeared next to him and threw him over his shoulder. Making a getaway at the last second, the teacher then disappeared and let the ball of fire race towards the Hidden Flame Academy's doors.

Appearing right outside of room 243's window, the teacher knelt down to place Mike gently on the ground. After that, he quickly arose and looked at where the fire ball went. "..."

Not letting Ricky's jutsu reach the building, a certain ninja ran outside where the flames were aiming for, holding out his hands as if he was going to stop the fire, physically.

"Is he crazy?!" Zola wondered, watching everything.

Right outside the window, the teacher spoke, "No, Zola. That's Kimino Knight. Probably the most elite Jonin in the Village Hidden in the Flames. I'm only a Chunin. Therefor, making him much more suited to stop the flames, rather than me."

"Shouldn't you already be able to stop the flames, if you're a Chunin?" She whispered, slightly mocking him.

The ninja, Kimino, had red ninja sandals on, long red pants with a bandage wrapped around his right leg, a long-sleeve red shirt with orange flames rising up from just the sleeves, and a dark red, buttoned-up Jonin vest. Covering his neck and about halfway up his nose was a red mask that seemed to be part of his shirt. Besides that, he was normally wearing his red headband. Kimino had dark eyes, orange hair that spiked to the side like Kakashi's, and he had orange fingerless gloves on both hands. "I'm certainly surprised a _student_ can perform a jutsu like this." He said, smiling under his mask. The fire ball hit him, and with his hands, he absorbed the entire jutsu into his body all at once, extremely quick. It was so fast, everyone was left with their mouth wide open in surprise. Everyone, except for Ricky and the teacher.

Leaving Mike, the teacher approached the Jonin and said, "Nice job, Kimino. What are you doing here, so early?"

Heated up from Ricky's jutsu, Kimino scratched the back of his head as he answered, "Ah, you know me, always coming early. Guess I had nothing better to do." He said, following up by a short laugh. "What about you, Pike? How come your class is the only one finished up with the exams? And, why are these two students fighting?"

"Shhh, don't speak my real name around here. I kinda' kept my identity a secret ever since... that day. And, I really prepared my class for this. Those two students over there," The teacher then turned around to look back at them. "are Mike Zolo and Ricky Momochi. I think you know the whole story behind them, right?"

"Ah, yes. The Momochi boy and the orphan. I always expected they would never get along. Considering how their tales are so different, but their backgrounds are so alike... It's common for them not to realize how they're the same. Have they passed on to becoming Genin yet?"

"Actually, I have to settle that out right now. They were the last students to take the final part of the exam. Please excuse me, Kimino." The teacher bowed shortly, then began walking over to Mike.

Already standing beside Mike, Ricky leaned on the brick wall beside the window. "You're lucky, Mike." He said with his eyes closed and his arms folded. "If my jutsu hit you, you wouldn't be here right now. You'd be in the hospital, regretting ever picking a fight with me."

Despite Ricky's bragging, overconfident, cruel personality, Mike just smiled and stayed on the ground. "Heh, if you say so. I shouldn't have used so much chakra before. Otherwise, I bet we would have been equal!"

"Yeah, right! Still... you put up a pretty _decent_ fight. For that, Mike: I respect you. Just don't blow it-"

"That's right, I put up a decent fight! There's no way I could have lost if it wasn't for that little mistake in the end!" Mike roared, interrupting Ricky.

_"You blew it..."_ Ricky thought, sighing. Soon after, the teacher went up to the two of them, smiling in an evil way.

_"Uh-oh! He looks mad!"_ Mike panicked in his mind.

_"We're in so much trouble..."_ Ricky thought, calmly.

"You two..." The teacher hovered over Mike and Ricky. "..._pass_!"

Confused, Zola, who was listening from inside the building still, asked, "What? How in the world did they pass?"

"Yeah, how did we pass?" Mike repeated after her.

"They played out a perfect example of how a real ninja battle should be. They used everything they learned here, they fought excellently, they even mastered the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu! _Both_ of them! In my book, I wish I could do more than rank them as Genin."

"Like, perhaps, rank us _Chunin_?" Mike questioned him with a greedy smile.

Actually pleased at his words, the teacher hid his thoughts and told him, "Don't push it..."

Eventually, Mike got up and went back into room 243 with Ricky and the teacher. Kimino tagged along as well. Mike and Ricky received their headbands, Mike got a red one, Ricky got a light blue one, and they took their seats as the teacher stood in front of the class, holding a piece of paper. As everyone settled down, the teacher looked over to Kimino who stood beside him, then nodded. All that was left was to announce the teams. "Team One..." The teacher called out. Nobody really payed attention to the teams unless their name was called. Then, that's when destiny was decided, as three particular Genin were partnered up with one selected Jonin. "Team Three." The teacher read out loud. "Mike Zolo,"

"Oh, yeah! Finally, I'm up! Team Three, huh? Awesome!" The boy shouted, excited. He punched the air, as if this was an achievement.

"Ricky Momochi," The teacher continued.

"What?!" Mike and Ricky both gasped. "How could I have been partnered up with _him_?!" Mike asked, quickly leaving his state of excitement.

"Yeah, he's _way_ below me! Plus, I can't let a weakling like him drag me down! There has to be some mistake!" Ricky complained.

"Like I said, see how alike they are?" Kimino whispered over to the teacher.

"Yeah..." Ignoring their complaints, the teacher went on. "and Zola Spark."

"Why did I have a feeling I was going to be caught in that pairing?" Zola asked herself, sulking her head down. _"Just my luck..."_ She thought.

Looking at Kimino, Mike wandered around in his mind for a second, then called out, "What about Kimino? Who's team is he going to lead?"

"How ironic. Kimino will be leading Team _Three_, Mike." The teacher said, smiling.

The three Genin, Mike, Ricky, and Zola, were all very pleased to hear that Kimino was going to be their sensei. They already felt like a team before they were actually assigned.

"This is great!" Mike yelled out loud.

"Heh, this might not be so bad after all..." Ricky said in his usual, calm tone.

"Stuck with all boys? It would be nice to have one other girl to be with, but, oh well..." Zola said, taking what she got.

_"So I get to lead Team Three, huh?"_ Kimino thought, looking at the three Genin. "The Zolo, the Momochi, and the Spark... I have a feeling these kids are going to be quite a handful... sounds interesting."

The teacher soon concluded the ceremony of becoming a Genin by saying, "Team Three's first official mission will be given tomorrow at the Firekage's Mansion! Rest nicely and restore your energy! You've all got a big day ahead of yourselves!"

"Heh, all right, I'm finally a Genin!" Mike roared, jumping up into the air.


End file.
